Toronto Street Festival - This weekend

[CyberHippie]

Here's what I thought sounded interesting:

Saturday July the 10th

The Silver Hearts

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Web: www.thesilverhearts.com

Notes: Roots & Rhythms Stage - Dundas Site. 5:00pm. Peterborough-based The Silver Hearts have amazing energy, poignant songwriting and instrumentation. A blend of accordion, fiddles, piano, brass and more, the music of the Silver Hearts evades description by modern genres. They have become one of the most popular live bands in Ontario and recently released their brand new CD, Our Precious City.

Sekoya

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Web: www.turnerme.com/sekoya.shtml

Notes: Toronto Star Urban Soul Stage - Bloor Site 3:00pm. With a unique infusion of jazz and electronic sound manipulation, Sekoya offers a different brand of music. Amalia Townsend, Alvin Cornista, Dan Kearley, Jack Duncan, Kent Wallace, Nino Di Pasquale, and Chris Gestrin all bring together an excellent show filled with stellar vocal stylings and politically charged lyrics. Their debut album was released in March 2004.

Frankie Wilmot and Prophecy

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Web: www.explorerinc.com

Notes: Toronto Star Urban Soul Stage - Bloor Site. 4:00pm. A past Juno Award winner, Frankie Wilmot possesses one of the most powerful voices in reggae music. Whether he's riding a roots rock, pop rock or dancehall rhythm, Jamaican-born Wilmot offers strong, conscious lyrics, heavy bass lines, and rhythmic melodies. His new album was released in April 2004. For this Street Festival performance Wilmot has teamed up with Prophecy. Born Rohan Brown, Prophecy has been making waves in the Canadian and Jamaican reggae scene for the past 8 years. Prophecy is currently in the studio putting the final touches to his debut album, which is slated to be in stores summer 2004.

Blessed

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Web: www.explorerinc.com

Notes: Toronto Star Urban Soul Stage - Bloor Site. 5:00pm. Toronto-based reggae artist Blessed (Peter Skinner) scored a 2002 Juno Award and a coveted 2002 Urban Music Award, which won him international recognition and established him as one of the hottest rising stars on the scene. Known for his conscious lyrics and velvety voice, Blessed is presently in the studio working on some fantastic tracks to be released this summer.

Toronto Urban All-Stars

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Notes: Toronto Star Urban Soul Stage - Bloor Site. 6:30pm. This collective of some of Toronto's top urban musicians have performed with Canadian performers Jacksoul, Jarvis Church, Ivana Santilli and the Pocket Dwellers. Together they create soulful urban grooves complimented by the sweet vocals of diva Divine Earth Essence.

Beyond the Pale

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Web: www.beyondthepale.net

Notes: Global Grooves Stage - Bloor Site. 1:30pm. This Toronto band has emerged as one of the most exciting ensembles in the Canadian klezmer, folk, and world music scenes. Known for inventive arrangements and compelling original compositions, their 2001 album Routes was nominated for the Best World Music Album by the Canadian Independent Music Awards. A live CD is to be released in July 2004.

Rainforest Sound Waves

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Web: www.dalemarcell.com

Notes: Lawrence Site. 12, 2:30, 4:30 & 6 pm, Saturday and Sunday. Dale Marcell's drum circles and interactive concerts take participants on a journey of sound, visualization and rhythms. After twenty years in various aspects of the music industry, Marcell now focuses on the bare bones of music and celebrates the vibration of life through drumming.

Mystic Drums World Sounds

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Web: www.mysticdrumz.com

Notes: Lawrence Site. 12:30, 3:30 & 6:30 pm, Saturday and Sunday. Combining the rhythms of over 60 percussion instruments, Lorne Lampert, specializes in hands-on musical fun and learning. Children and parents are invited to jam on an extensive variety of authentic instruments including African drums, Latin bongos, South American rhythm sticks, assorted bells, tambourines, triangles, shakers and more.

Sunday July the 11th

Pocket Dwellers

Venue: Toronto Street Festival

Web: www.pocketdwellers.com

Notes: Toronto Star Urban Soul Stage - Bloor Site. 3:00pm. This eight-piece outfit is a multi-talented, multi-instrumental and multi-influenced collective. Ranging from classically or jazz trained to street-smart and self-taught, the Pocket Dwellers bring their diverse talents together to create a whole new sound that is anything but conventional. Their blend of funk, soul, hip-hop, rock, jazz, drum & bass are straight from the streets.